Endless Wondering
by ThatGuyYouKnew
Summary: The Warehouse has an uninvited guest, and a mystery ensues.
1. Delivery At The Warehouse

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.

**Author's Note:**

No clue where this came from, just popped into existence one day.

(Feb. 20th) - Fixed some naming mistakes and a few other small errors.

**Publish Date:** Feb. 1st, 2014

**Update Date:** Feb. 20th, 2014

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Delivery At The Warehouse

Pete, Myka, Claudia and Steve walked into the Warehouse bickering about nothing as per usual, but this time Myka and Claudia, who were in front of the two boys, stopped dead, causing Pete and Steve to run into them in confusion.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, looking around. "Why did you stop?"

Pete snorted and muttered "That's what she said," under his breath, causing the rest to roll their eyes at the rather predictable response.

"There's someone new in the warehouse," Myka said, answering Steve's question and ignoring Pete.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Claudia asked the man suspiciously.

"You can call me Harry and I am waiting," The man sitting at the desk reading a book answered.

Claudia clapped and pointed at the door, saying, "Well this isn't a bus stop, so you'll have to wait somewhere else."

The man grinned and casually put the book in his hands down, and only then did Claudia realize he had been looking at the Warehouse inventory list. Before she could comment, the now identified Harry said, "I'm well aware of what this place _is_, Claudia Donovan."

At the mention of her name, Claudia froze and Steve drew his Tesla, only for the Tesla to fly out of his hands and his limbs snap together, sending him tipping over into Pete, who was now struggling to prop him up.

With everyone's attention drawn to Steve's predicament, no one kept their eyes on the intruder for a full two seconds, a fact that Claudia cursed violently in her mind for as she turn back and saw he was gone.

Or invisible. That was a distinct possibility as well.

"A very interesting weapon, the Tesla," Harry spoke from behind the group, causing them to spin to see him reclining in a chair with his feet propped up on the table and examining the Tesla in his hands. "But this one has been modified quite a bit." Harry hummed in thought, looking at the weapon more closely before muttering, "No, this one is completely new. Interesting."

Claudia, always a bit prideful in her work, puffed up and asked, "Oh? Interesting how?"

Harry turned to the young woman and smiled, saying, "Interesting enough that I'm prepared to offer you a job." Claudia was about to decline when he continued with, "Part-time, rather flexible around Warehouse work, and you'd get to mess with stuff and make things like you do here."

Claudia looked at the stranger oddly for a second before asking, "Flexible around Warehouse work?"

"Claudia!" Myka interrupted. "No taking job offers from _strangers_ in the Warehouse!"

The redhead looked sheepish at having asked and was trying to be stern instead when Harry added, "I'll pay you well, in cash or gold or whatever you want, for whatever work you _do_, no matter how much, or how _little_ work that is. I will say, however, that this kind of arrangement gets my rather small, low priority things that you can take your time with, unless you specifically request something more. The only thing I ask is that you keep what you learn about me, and anything related to me in any way, secret. I don't expect you to tell me anything about the Warehouse or your friends, all I really ask for is the same courtesy."

Claudia apparently thought about it long enough that Myka couldn't take it anymore and spouted, "You can't seriously be considering this, Claudia."

"He did kinda just waltz in here and make Jinksy here act like a wooden board, Claud," Pete added, still holding up the other agent, who was mumbling something, but couldn't be understood due to the fact that he couldn't move his lips.

Claudia's head snapped back to the man and she said accusingly, "What _did_ you do to Jinksy?"

Harry rolled his eyes and replied, "I petrified him." He seemed to consider his answer for a second before correcting, "Well, paralyzed would be a more accurate term, and I only really did it in response to him drawing his weapon."

And if he hadn't done that?" Claudia asked, noticing the looks she was getting from the rest of the team. She was curious about this newcomer, so sue her!

"Then I wouldn't have done anything," the man said with a shrug. "What would be the point? I can leave when I wish and my business here isn't finished yet."

Claudia opened her mouth to respond when Artie walked into the room from deeper within the Warehouse. He immediately froze, seeing the entire team standing in the middle of the room (Well, Steve was more _leaning_ and why was he doing that?), and asked the most standard question in his arsenal.

"What is going on here?!"

Harry leaned over in the chair he was currently occupying and spotted Arthur. He suddenly brightened and said loudly, "Hello Arthur! We're coming to take you away, ha-ha!" Harry said, making Claudia nearly chuckle at the reference.

Arthur seemed to regain his composure and demanded, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"You can call me Harry. As for why I'm here, well, two reasons really. Firstly, I'm waiting on Irene to come by. She has a package for me." Harry looked at the watch on his wrist and continued, "It shouldn't be too much longer, I was a bit early." The man grinned and added, "And secondly, I'm poaching."

Arthur stiffened significantly and exclaimed, "Poaching!?" He marched over and stuck his finger into Harry's chest and said, "Stop. Trying. To. Poach. My. Agents." Poking him in the chest to emphasize each word.

Harry just looked down at the offending appendage and then looked at Arthur blandly, simply stating, "Personal space, Arthur."

Arthur took a deep breath and took a step backwards before asking, "And why would she be bringing _you_ a package?"

"Wait, who is Irene?" Claudia asked, a bit confused.

"Mrs. Frederic," Arthur and Harry answered together before Harry turned back towards Arthur and continued, "And she's bringing me a package because I told your Regents to _fetch_."

"Not exactly the way I would have worded it," A voice interrupted, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. The head of the Regents stood near the door and was holding a slim box, about a foot and a half in length and about four inches deep. "Harry," Mr. Kosan greeted stiffly.

"Adwin Kosan." Harry said with a tight smile. "How nice to see you again. I was expecting Irene."

"Wait, you two know each other?" Claudia asked, even more curious now than she was before.

"We've met," Harry said succinctly.

"You shot me," The head of the Regents snorted indignantly, walking over to Harry.

Harry just shrugged and blandly drawled back, "You shot me first."

"Umm," Pete interrupted, "Not to be mean or anything, just kinda curious, but, are you both really such bad shots that you're both still here?" The Warehouse agent immediately looked apologetic after finishing his question and was going to open his mouth to say 'never mind' when Mr. Kosan spoke.

"What... _Harry_ is failing to mention is that I shot him in the head." Everyone's eyes widened, then jaws met concrete as Mr. Kosan added, "Twice."

"And then you had the sheer, bloody _audacity_ to turn your back on me." Harry snorted a short laugh before adding cheekily, "Bad move, eh, mate?"

Claudia was working her jaw trying to find something to say to that. She was the one of witty one-liners and comic rejoinders, damnit! She should have _something_ to interject here! This was just _waaaay_ too tense! Could she really not come up with _anything_?

"Wait, what?"

_'Okay Claudster, when I said _anything_, I didn't mean for you to include stupid,'_ Claudia thought to herself, trying to come up with something to cover her idiocy. She smiled stiffly and said, "What was that last bit that was said? I was too busy imagining just how much it would hurt to get shot in the head twice."

As soon as the words left her mouth in a rush, Claudia cringed internally. _'That sounded so much better and more tactful in my head,'_ she thought.

She had just opened her mouth to give it voice when Harry barked out a quick laugh and replied, "You have no idea." He turned back to the Regent head and continued, "Either way, water under the bridge. That's the item I take it?"

Mr. Kosan nodded once and handed the small box over to Harry, who glanced inside and then slipped the box in his jacket. "I do hope you know what you're doing with such a thing, Harry," Mr. Kosan said gravely. "Failing in an endeavor such as this could have extreme personal consequences."

Harry just nodded and replied with a crooked half-grin, "Wish me luck then," before simply vanishing into thin air.

Mr. Kosan just snorted before saying, "Showoff."

Claudia gaped at the place Harry had been occupying before finally saying, "What just happened here?"

"A package was delivered and the recipient departed," Mr. Kosan replied, looking at Claudia blandly as if these kind of things happened daily.

Which, as Claudia thought about it, might just be possible.

"Was was in the package?" Myka asked.

Mr. Kosan turned to Myka and responded stiffly, "Nothing that concerns the Warehouse. That is all you need to know." With that, he calmly turned and departed.

Claudia huffed and stuffed her hands in her pocket before frowning and pulling a confused face. Steve looked at her and asked, "Everything okay, Claud?"

Instead of replying, Claudia pulled a business card out of her pocket. Her frown deepened and she said, just a bit too loudly in the currently quiet office, "How in the _hell_ did he get this in my pants?"


	2. What's That Thingy?

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.

**Author's Note:**

The chapters in this story are likely going to be shorter than I usually do, sorry 'bout that.

(Feb. 20th) - Small punctuation error fixed and a small clarification added.

**Publish Date:** Feb 14th, 2014

**Update Date:** N/A

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

What's That Thingy?

It had been two weeks since the Warehouse crew ran into the enigma known as Harry, who was, in a word provided by Claudia and agreed to by everyone present, Freaky with a definite capital 'F'.

No one knew _anything_ about the man. Steve, Pete and Myka couldn't get anything out of any of their contacts, Claudia didn't find a scrap of recent information _anywhere_ on the Internet, which just irritated her to no end and sent her into a frenzy trying to find _something_. Artie only had one 'old friend' that decided to say anything about the man at all, and that was a succinct, "If you have any brain cells left in that hat rack you call a head, then you won't ask anyone about that man, _ever_."

Even Mrs. Frederic was being completely stonewalled, which worried the entire Warehouse crew.

"I can't take this anymore!" Claudia exclaimed loudly, standing swiftly and swatting the keyboard completely off the desk and to the floor.

"You must be in a bad mood if you're abusing tech," Steve said.

"I am!" Claudia exclaimed louder. "It's like this guy doesn't exist! There is _nothing_ out there about him after the age of eleven, nothing at all! _Everyone_ has _something_ out there! A parking ticket, an overlooked bill, a god damned overdue library book at least!" Claudia huffed and stopped pacing, trying to calm herself down. Finally she stated in a more normal voice, "It's like this guy is being actively and constantly scrubbed from the entire Internet in real-time."

Steve looked at Claudia, questioning, "Is that possible?" At Claudia's incredulous look, Steve elaborated, "I mean, to be scrubbed off the web like that. Is it possible?"

Claudia snorted and replied humorously, "Not a chance, padawan. Someone would need some _serious_ hardware _and_ software, like Warehouse level, a dedicated team to do the actual scrubbing, not to mention back doors into literally every single site on the entirety of the interwebs. Even then, there's human error to take into account, and this is all too perfectly done."

Both Warehouse agents sat in silence for a while, thinking their own thoughts, until Steve finally said with a shrug, "Have you given any thought to his job offer?"

Claudia huffed and replied, "I don't know. I can't find anything on him and that makes me nervous. What kind of things is he going to have me looking at and making? What if he uses something I made for some nefarious purpose?" She dropped down in the chair and picked the keyboard up off the floor, inspecting it for any damage. "I mean, is that something I should risk?"

"Just don't work on anything that could be used nefariously," Steve replied slightly mockingly before asking more seriously, "So what _do_ you know about him?"

Claudia just looked up at him from the keyboard she was inspecting as if he had just said something that was both amusing and stupid at the same time. Finally she responded, "_Anything_ can be used nefariously, padawan." She sighed and answered, "_If_ it's the same person, then his name is Harry James Potter. Born July 31st, 1980 to James Charlus Potter and Lily Marie Potter, and orphaned October 31st, 1981 by way of murder. Taken in by Lily's sister Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon, and their son, Dudley."

Steve snorted and asked, "Dudley Dursley? Really?"

Claudia grinned and replied, "I know, right?" She went back to inspecting the piece of tech in her hands and continued, "Not much after that though, and definitely nothing that paints a good picture." Claudia sighed and stopped her inspection of the keyboard and looked at Steve sadly, "There were seven emergency rooms within fifty miles of his residence. Between the ages of fifteen months and eleven years, he visited _each_ of those ER's at least once for, broken bones, severe blood loss, bruising, burns, and internal injuries."

Steve looked, in a word, _pissed_. He finally reigned in his anger and asked, "What happened when he was eleven? You seemed to imply that kind of thing stopped then."

"That's where it gets to the strangeness. He just disappears. According to his school transcripts from back then, his guardians transferred him to St. Brutus' Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, but I'm questioning how he attended a school at eleven that closed down when he was _four_." Claudia sighed in frustration before continuing, "And when I say he disappeared, I mean just that! Poof! Disappeared! _Vanished_! There are absolutely _no_ records of him existing _anywhere_ in the civilized world."

"What about the _un_civilized world?" Steve asked.

Claudia just shook her head. "No travel records, no hits on facial recognition in _any_ of the ways into or out of any civilized country, nothing. And I still don't know how he managed to get close enough to slip that card into my pocket without me noticing or of feeling him do it." Seeing Steve open his mouth, Claudia cut off the question she knew was coming. "Yes, I've already tried tracing the phone number he provided. It leads to a New York based answering service, and yes, I've checked all of their clients. Every. Single. One. And they all checked out." She sighed and went back to her inspection, muttering, "I just don't know who to ask if this is legit, you know?"

"You could ask me," A voice interrupted, causing Steve and Claudia to jump in surprise and the keyboard that had been in Claudia's hands to take a second dive to the floor. Both agents turned to see Mr. Kosan, the head of the Regents, their boss', boss', boss' boss.

Mr. Kosan looked at the keyboard that had just hit the ground for a short moment before turning to Claudia and saying neutrally, "Please refrain from damaging Warehouse property, Ms. Donavan."

"Of course!" Claudia squeaked out. After a second, his previous comment registered in her mind and she asked, "You think taking this job is a good idea?"

Mr Kosan sat down at the across from her in silence before finally saying, "I can tell you that he does good work; similar to us in that he protects others from things they might not understand."

"Then why doesn't he work here?" Claudia asked curiously. "If the guy does the same thing we do, then shouldn't we be working together a lot more often?"

The Head of the Regents looked conflicted, as if struggling with himself on what he could say. Finally he stated, "Some things fall outside of our jurisdiction, and on a few very rare occasions, some things are simply too powerful or too dangerous to even risk storing here."

"What kind of things?" Claudia asked incredulously. "We have Pandora's freaking box here, what could be worse?"

"The Minoan Trident, for one, is something we store with Harry and his people," Mr. Kosan replied. "Apparently it compels certain people in certain mindsets to use it by any means necessary, which is one of the reasons we were willing to forgive Miss Wells so quickly. Another item they hold for us is the Bow of Artemis." Mr. Kosan shook his head and added, "It's far too dangerous to store here with the statues of Zeus and Hera here as well." Claudia and Steve both seemed shocked, and that only got worse as Mr Kosan continued, "We hand those things over to Harry and his organization for safe-keeping. In return, they send us any artifacts they may stumble upon in their work, along with a few other various tasks."

"What's their organization called?" Steve asked curiously.

Mr. Kosan shrugged and replied easily, "We don't know, which is another reason the Regents are willing to allow Miss Donavan to accept this offer with no repercussions to her job here at the Warehouse."

Steve, having been in a similar position before, came to the conclusion first. "You want her to spy for you."

"We would appreciate any information about Mr. Harry and his organization that Miss Donavan is _allowed_ to pass along," Mr. Kosan corrected gently. "And we believe that this would be a good way to begin to build a more permanent bridge between out two organizations." With a small shrug, the head of the Regents turned to the redhead and continued, "That said, we leave the decision on whether or not to accept the offer in your hands." With that, Mr. Kosan stood and straightened his jacket before leaving the Warehouse.

It was silent for a long moment before Claudia asked, "Well that puts a whole new spin on things."

Steve nodded in agreement before stating, "So I take it you're going to call."

"Might as well," Claudia shrugged. "Seems it has the backing of the Regents and it has me curious." She pulled her cell out of her pocket along with the card, dialing the number quickly before she lost her nerve.

After being prompted to leave a message, she hung up and shrugged at Steve, saying, "Now I guess we wait."

As soon as Claudia finished speaking, her phone rang, causing her to look at it in surprise. She quickly accepted the call and put it on speaker-phone, saying, "Hello?"

"_This is Claudia Donavan, correct?"_

"Yes," Claudia replied, glancing at Steve, who simply shrugged back.

"_Good. Your first assessment is on the table in the corner."_

Both agents spun to look at the indicated table to see a box about the size of a printer with a red bow on top, as if mocking the two. "How did-"

"_Let us know as soon as your done and we'll send the next one right out."_

The person ended the call, leaving the two agents with many more questions than they had before. Claudia looked at the box before muttering, "What the hell, why not." With that, she stalked over and opened the cardboard container before staring at the contents.

After a moment of Claudia continuing her unblinking stare into the box, Steve asked pointedly, "What is it, Claud?"

"It's a... _Thingy_." Claudia replied in confusion. She pulled out an object that looked quite a bit like a leather vambrace, but with a small keyboard embedded in the top of it. "No wires, no inputs or outputs, no screen, hmmm..." Claudia muttered, turning the object over in her hands.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more out of the redhead, he sighed and leaned over to see if there was anything else in the box. Seeing a small scrap of paper at the bottom, he picked it up and read it before handing it to Claudia.

_Figure it out. Have fun!_

_Harry_


	3. Light Reading

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.

**Author's Note:**

There's a new poll on my profile to vote on which story you think should be getting the most focus.

And here is the next chapter of _Endless Wondering_, enjoy!

**Publish Date:** Feb. 28th, 2014

**Update Date:** N/A

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

Light Reading  
><span>

It had been a week, and Claudia still hadn't done more than prod at the device and look it over it detail. She hadn't determined anything about it, and didn't want to push any of the buttons just in case there happened to be a self-destruct feature. The last thing she needed was for this... Thingy to go boom and leave her with a hell of a mess to clean up.

"I think I've been working at the Warehouse too long," Claudia said suddenly at breakfast one morning, shocking the rest of the crew into silence.

"What do you mean, Claudia?" Arthur asked cautiously. "I thought you loved working at the warehouse."

At everyone's nod, Claudia huffed and responded, "That is not what I meant." She rolled her eyes and continued, "I meant that I'm becoming as paranoid as Artie, here." She ignored Arthur's indignant 'Hey!' and continued on, "Before I wouldn't have gone nearly this long without pushing at least one of the buttons." With that, she picked up the vambrace and looked it over for a second before shrugging and pushing a small button on the side of the key panel at random.

When nothing happened, she pushed the button again and held it this time, causing a small red light to begin blinking on and off on the top of the device in the corner.

"Well, that can't be good," Claudia muttered.

"It's not."

The new voice from behind Claudia caused her to jump clear of her chair and land on her backside next to it. Everyone turned to see a woman with chestnut brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, with warm hazel eyes and a smile that seemed to put Claudia at ease. The redhead stood from her spot on the floor and asked, "Who are you?"

The woman smiled wider and replied, "My name is Hermione. I'm an associate of Harry's."

"And what is it that you do?" Myka asked curiously.

Hermione turned and answered evasively, "I'm a department head."

Steve immediately questioned, "What department?"

Hermione sighed and responded flatly, "I'm the head of the Science Research and Development Department. In fact, a good friend and I _invented_ what the lot of you have been so charmingly calling a 'Thingy'."

Claudia blushed and replied, "Sorry about that. We didn't know what to call it."

Hermione sighed and shrugged before saying, "That was the point. You weren't supposed to know _anything_ about the device. It's called an Omni-Comp, by the way. It's called an assessment for a reason, though." She tilted her head to the side and continued, "Speaking of, why did it take you a week before you pushed any of the buttons?"

Claudia's blush deepened and she muttered, "I didn't know if there was a self-destruct or something and didn't want to destroy it and get in trouble."

Hermione smiled at her and said softly, "While being cautious _is_ a good thing, there comes a point where all you can do is just push the big red button and hope for the best." She shrugged and added, "It took me a long time to learn that." Hermione chuckled and muttered, "Harry, on the other hand, _loves_ pushing buttons when he has no idea what they do." She shook her head fondly and continued, "As a side note, you happened to activate the panic alarm. If we hadn't known what was going on we would have sent two full squads of armed soldiers instead of just me, all appearing just as suddenly as I did."

The woman shrugged and ignored the panicked looks, continuing, "Your first assessment is finished." At Claudia's startled look, Hermione reached in her bag and pulled out a thick book. She handed it to Claudia and said, "This is the manual for your Omni-Comp, and your second assessment will be sometime soon."

"Wait, what do you mean _my_ Omni-Comp, and what second assessment?" Claudia asked, absently accepting the manual.

Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes, responding, "You didn't think we would let you make do with what you had on hand, did you?" She pointed to the item in Claudia's hand and continued, "That's the basic model, it's up to you to figure out how you want to modify both it and the coding," she said with a grin. "There's some information about that in the manual, along with a number to call for help if you need it." Her grin turned slightly wicked as she added, "And if you pass, you'll likely never even know the second assessment happened." She seemed to remember something else and continued, "Oh, and the dimensions of that manual aren't the same as the dimensions of the space it's occupying, so expect a bit of light reading."

With that, she disappeared just as suddenly as Harry had when all this began.

"Well, this is going to be interesting," Claudia muttered, sitting down at the table and opening the large manual for the device in her hands.

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><p>That evening, the rest of the Warehouse crew walked into the dining room to see Claudia hunched over the manual, the device, a notepad, and several stacks of post-it notes that she was using as bookmarks, all scattered about the table with various tools and gadgets here and there in between the paper piles.<p>

"Haven't made it very far into that manual, Claudia?" Steve asked curiously, seeing the book only open about one-quarter of the way through the contents.

Everyone stopped approaching the covered table at the weight of the glare the young technician leveled at them. Finally she asked blandly, "How many pages do you think are in this manual?"

Everyone looked at Myka, the biggest reader in the room. She stuttered a bit as she looked at the book on the table and made an educated guess. "Five hundred pages or so?"

Claudia nodded and replied, "That's what I thought at first, too." She flopped back in her chair with a sigh and continued, "And then I opened it. At first I didn't notice anything odd, but after about four hours I needed a bathroom break, so I looked at the page I was on to mark it and found myself looking at page four-hundred, thirty-eight." She pushed the book away from her, slightly petulantly and muttered, "That was six hours ago."

Myka huffed in disbelief and commented, "There's no way that book has that many pages, it's just not possible."

Claudia grinned humorlessly and exclaimed, "That's exactly what I said!" She sighed and went on, "So I called the number, just to make sure my leg wasn't being pulled. I'm sure it was that Hermione woman on the other line because when I asked, she just laughed and told me to remember her parting words."

Everyone looked confused for a moment when Claudia answered, "She said, 'the dimensions of that manual aren't the same as the dimensions of the space it's occupying, so expect a bit of light reading,' Remember?" She sighed sadly and muttered, "It took me five minutes to completely translate what she meant and then I felt like an idiot because she's obviously British." At the confusion she was seeing, she answered blandly, "It's bigger on the inside." When the joke didn't seem to translate, she threw her hands up in frustration and exclaimed, "Doctor Who reference!"

"So what page are you on?" Steve asked cautiously, not wanting to raise the ire of the redhead with screwdrivers in easy reach.

"One-thousand, three-hundred, seventy-two," Claudia stated blandly. "If this is that woman's version of 'light reading', I shudder to think of what heavy reading is."

Pete looked at the book in front of the redhead and muttered, "I don't think we want to know what that kind of horror could be."


	4. Consolation Prizes

Disclaimer:  
>I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.<p>

Author's Note:  
>The next chapter of Endless Wondering is here. I apologize for the delay, but I've been having trouble writing lately and haven't been able to produce anything of quality for any extended length of time. As long as this continues, updates will continue to be slow, but I will say this:<p>

NONE OF MY STORIES ARE ABANDONED!

I have been asked frequently if my stories are abandoned or if I ever plan on updating them. Yes, I do. But I want it to be quality work and not just whatever crap I happen to come up with.

(Oct.23rd - Fixed the quotation mark problem. I have no idea how that happened, other than FFN doesn't like when I post from my phone .)

Publish Date: July 1st, 2014

Update Date: Oct. 23rd, 2014

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><p>Chapter Three<p>

Consolation Prizes

The Omni-Comp given to Claudia was possibly the most advanced piece of tech that the redhead had ever dealt with. She had spent the last week tweaking the device itself and the coding to suit her, and she wasn't even close to half-way done. She sighed tiredly as she continued making alterations and referencing the massive manual that accompanied the device, thoroughly refusing to give in and call the number for help.

"Claudia," Steve huffed. "Why are you torturing yourself over this?"

"Because I can do this on my own!" Claudia replied in exasperation. "I probably barely passed the first assessment, I'm not going to screw this one up, too!"

Steve tilted his head to the side and asked, "What makes you think your second assessment has anything to do with that thingy?"

Claudia huffed again and responded, "It's all I have to go on, so that's my best guess."

Steve shrugged and changed the subject, asking, "So what all can that thing do, anyway?"

Claudia grinned and replied tiredly, "Quite a bit, but you know I can't really give you any details about it, Jinksy. I've been telling you that all week."

"Aww, come on, Claudia. Who am I going to tell?" Steve asked rhetorically, grinning and pushing against her shoulder playfully.

Claudia shook her head and replied distractedly, "Doesn't really matter, does it?" She looked back at him and grinned, continuing, "We both know I can't talk about it."

Steve shrugged and grinned back, saying, "Well you can't blame me for trying. So how are things going?"

Claudia huffed and muttered, "Slowly." At Steve's questioning look, she elaborated, "This is just extremely complicated and it's taking longer than I would like to learn the system it uses and make adjustments."

Steve's confusion deepened and he asked, "So what are you having trouble with?" At Claudia's indignant look, Steve snorted and replied, "Even I can tell that much, Claudia. Spill."

Claudia turned around with a sigh and responded, "There are things that I just don't get with this device." The tech snorted and continued, "And if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was magic."

Steve tilted his head with a slightly bemused expression and replied, "You don't believe in magic?" Claudia gave him a confused look and he continued, "You work in a growing building that houses seemingly ordinary items that can do a wide variety of extraordinary things, from changing the color of your hair to items that can shatter continents." Steve leaned forward and finished, "And you say you _don't_ believe in magic?"

Claudia blinked twice before muttering, "Well, when you put it like that..."

Steve grinned in reply and continued, "What constitutes magic anyway? An event or effect that is unexplainable?" He shrugged and added, "That just means no one has explained it yet."

The redhead sighed in response and said quietly, "I suppose, it just doesn't feel right calling anything magic and being serious." She turned around to continue tinkering with the Omni-Comp as the conversation continued, asking, "You know what I mean?"

Steve tilted his head to the side and shot back, "Do you have another name for it?" Steve gave an unseen shrug and concluded, "Because I don't."

Claudia stopped what she was doing to think about the question. After a few moments, she sighed heavily and muttered, "I suppose you're right." She frowned at Steve's grin and said, "Don't let it go to your head."

"Who, me?"

Claudia just arched her eyebrow at Steve's obviously false innocent expression. "So what have you been up to?"

Steve shrugged. "This and that," he said easily. Claudia glared at him and he adopted another faux innocent look on his face. "What?!" he questioned.

"Details, man!" Claudia exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air. "I must have them!" She grinned at Steve and added, Besides, when have you ever held out on me?

"It's not that," Steve said quickly. "Just haven't been up to anything noteworthy." He grinned sheepishly and said, "Just business as usual."

The sound of a car door shutting outside wasn't that unusual. The gait up the walkway indicated male, which Claudia noted absently was a bit odd. The sound of the door opening wasn't anything strange, either. What caught Claudia's attention, however, was the voice that called out as soon as the front door slammed shut.

"Hey Claudia, I brought ice cream!"

The speed at which the redheaded tech drew her tesla and aimed it at the Steve impostor was impressive, and the doppleganger reflexively backed up a step and held his hands up in front of him. "I really thought he'd be gone longer," the impostor grinned.

At the sound of someone ascending the stairs and closer to Claudia's room, the Steve copy said quickly, "Sorry about bugging you all week about that Omni-Comp." He grinned impossibly wide, causing Claudia to pause in confusion as he continued, "Here's a consolation prize, though."

With that, 'Steve' suddenly sprouted long, curly golden locks. The look-alike shook out the mane of hair, suddenly shifting to a shocking bubblegum pink. The door opened and the original Steve stepped inside and stopped short at the image in front of him. He tilted his head to the side and said the first thing that came to mind.

"What the hell?"

The pink-haired Steve grinned widely and said, "Wotcher, mate. Gotta be going now, though." 'Steve' turned to Claudia and added, "Good job passing the third assessment." With that, the unknown person vanished with a small 'pop'.

"What the hell was that?" Steve blinked in confusion.

Claudia opened her mouth to respond, hesitated for a second, and finally said, "I honestly have no idea, Jinksy."


	5. In The Bag

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own anything related to the rights of Harry Potter or Warehouse 13.

**Author's Note:**

I want to be clear, none of my stories are abandoned. If that ever happens, I will be very obvious about it. However, my muses have seem to taken vacations all at once, so any progress made is rather slow. With that said, here is the fifth chapter of _Endless Wondering_.

**Publish Date:** Oct. 08th, 2015

**Update Date:** N/A

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

In The Bag

Claudia wasn't even confused or surprised anymore. The sudden pop followed by a black messenger bag falling on the table caused everyone to jump, while Claudia simply looked up from her food and blinked once, before running a few scans of the bag with her new Omni-Comp.

Satisfied with the readings, she looked at the tag attached to the bag and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "It's for me?" The redhead asked more than stated, followed by a muttered, "I hope this one doesn't come with a manual as well."

The sudden pop-_THUNK! _Of a book striking the table next to the bag caused everyone to flinch again and Claudia to immediately call out, "Oh, come on! I was joking!"

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><p>That afternoon found everyone in the B&amp;B looking at the bag that Claudia had placed carefully on the table and all but ordered everyone to stay away from it. Claudia had then proceeded to tear through the accompanying book with a voracity that mildly surprised the rest of the Warehouse Crew. When asked about it, she would glare at the questioner before returning to the book and muttering, "I don't want to talk about it."<p>

Artie was the first and only one to question further, and the resulting glare cut him off mid-question and sent him returning (scampering) back to the Warehouse for a bit to do inventory (to let her cool off). By the time he returned, Claudia had finished the book, and it was currently sitting in front of her, closed, as she glared at the bag.

"So," Steve drawled out. "What's going on, Claudia?" he asked tentatively. He didn't want to be put in the line of fire on this one, but it seemed no one else was going to ask, so he had to, and hope for the best.

Claudia's glaring at the bag intensified as she stated, "Bags shouldn't need instruction manuals."

Everyone looked confused at that and Steve looked at everyone else to see if they had any idea what she was talking about. Seeing that no one did, he asked carefully, "What?"

If possible, Claudia's glare tripled as she continued, "That bag needed an instruction manual."

Steve looked around again, even more confused, only to see that confusion mirrored on everyone else's face as well. Finally he asked again, "What's going on, Claudia?"

Claudia's head snapped to Steve and she dropped her glare. "I just needed to tell all of you that you shouldn't touch that bag. At all. Ever."

Pete tilted his head to the side and asked, "Why?"

"Because," Claudia started before pausing for a second, then continuing, "that bag has some pretty intense security features, and it seems that I'm the only one who can open it."

"Intense?" Myka questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Normal intense or Warehouse intense?"

"Warehouse intense," Claudia replied immediately with a nod. "Definitely Warehouse intense."

"So don't try to open the bag and we're good, right?" Pete asked, pointing at said bag.

Claudia nodded and added, "Picking it up and moving it somewhere else is fine as well, for the most part, provided you aren't holding it for long."

"How long is long?" Pete asked worriedly.

"A few minutes," Claudia shrugged. "Honestly, if you aren't trying to open it or steal it, you can just treat it like a normal bag for the most part."

Myka arched an eyebrow at Claudia and stated blandly, "It's the 'for the most part' part that worries me." Myka waved her hand in a wide arc and continued, "This is the Warehouse. Is that bag going to be fine around that many artifacts?"

Claudia nodded once resolutely and replied, "Definitely." With a shrug, she added, "And it'll likely be on me all the time at the Warehouse anyway, so I can make sure."

Pete was the one who finally broached the subject by asking, "Why did you need an instruction manual for a bag anyway?"

The resulting silent glare caused Pete to backpedal and everyone else resolve to just not ask anything about the bag at all.

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><p><em><strong>3 Weeks Later...<strong>_

"Give it to me and go distract the guards," Claudia whispered to Pete and Myka hurriedly. "I'll take care of hiding that thing."

Pete looked at her incredulously and quietly shot back, "We're in an empty, windowless room!" He accentuated his point with a wild wave of his hand and continued, "Where the hell are you going to hide an eight foot tall, four and a half foot wide painting that the guards aren't going to notice?!"

Claudia just looked at Pete and Myka for a second before assuring, "I promise I can take care of it, just buy me a minute or two!" The young redhead started pushing the two older agents toward the door as she finished with, "Probably closer to two!"

The two agents turned around to look at Claudia, who shooed them toward the door, mouthing, 'Go!' Pete and Myka looked at each other for a second before Myka opened the door and Pete said, "We'll buy you as much time as we can," as he followed his partner out and shut the door behind them.

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><p>Despite their initially subtle yet increasingly transparent attempts to stall the guards from checking the room, Pete and Myka had only bought the younger Warehouse agent just under a minute and a half. They couldn't stop the guard from walking into the room without tipping their hands, so they just had to hope that they had bought Claudia the time she needed.<p>

They were about to follow the guard into the room when he came back out and looked at the two intensely before saying gruffly, "Tell your friend to sightsee somewhere _else_." With that, the guard turned on his heel and marched further down the hall, no doubt to keep searching for the 'missing' painting.

Pete and Myka looked at each other in confusion before rushing into the room to find nothing but Claudia with no painting in sight. They looked at the redhead, then at each other, having a quick, silent conversation before turning back to Claudia.

"Surprise!" Claudia said weakly with a sheepish grin.

* * *

><p>Steve and Artie were sitting at the table when they heard the SUV pull up in front, and shortly thereafter, the argument that was occurring between the three agents. It was fast-paced, intense, and very, very <em>loud<em>. Artie was able to interrupt, however, and unfortunately, unwillingly, drug himself square into the center of the argument with, "Where is the artifact?"

Myka immediately spun around and exclaimed, "That's what we'd like to know!"

"What?" Was Artie's less-than-eloquent response.

"Claudia made it disappear," Pete injected helpfully. "She was in an empty room with it one minute, and the next, poof!" He waved his hands around widely and continued, "Gone was the painting, just Claudia in an empty room."

Artie turned to the now sheepish redhead and questioned, "Claudia?"

"I don't know what I'm allowed to say," She muttered. "It involves something from Harry's side of things and I don't know what's covered and what's not."

"Then call and find out," Artie replied tersely. "Is the painting at least safe?"

Claudia nodded vigorously and continued, "I've tried calling, but there hasn't been an answer."

"That's because today has been quite busy."

Everyone spun at the sound of a new voice to see Harry standing in the doorway, his suit ripped and burned in places, soot on his face and ash in his hair, small splatters of blood in various places, but no visible injuries.

"What happened to you?" Claudia asked, mildly shocked at his appearance.

Harry shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Had something to deal with that turned out to be a bit more than expected." He sighed and changed the subject, asking with a grin, "So what has you calling me every ten minutes for the last four hours?"

"She hid an artifact with something from your side of things, apparently," Myka said quickly. "And now she's backed herself into a corner because she says she can't get it out in front of us and doesn't know what she's allowed to tell us."

Harry snorted a laugh and looked at Claudia amusedly for a moment before saying, "While I do expect you to keep secrets, you _do_ realize that you do have _some_ discretion as to what to tell the people you work with."

Claudia froze for a second and then glared at Harry. "No," she bit out between grit teeth. "I was not informed of that."

Harry frowned and replied, "It should have been in the handbook." He tilted his head in confusion and asked, "Didn't you read it?"

Claudia's glare intensified. "What. Handbook?"

"Huh," Harry muttered as his confusion deepened. He shook his head and shrugged as he continued, "I'll send one back myself when I get back to the office, but until then, suffice it to say that you can tell your friends here about whatever you need to."

Claudia sighed in relief and unslung her now ever-present bag from her shoulder and opened it up before thrusting it into Harry's hands, saying, "Hold this then." Reaching into the bag with both hands and appearing to search for something, Claudia continued, "A four-foot by eight-foot painting was awkward as hell to get into this thing alone, I can only _imagine_ how awkward getting it out is going to be, even with help."

Harry arched an eyebrow and smiled amusedly even as he did as he was told by the younger girl. He shook his head as he replied, "You know, technically I _am_ your immediate boss. You shouldn't be giving me orders, you know?"

Claudia paused in her search and looked at Harry with an unrepentant grin and simply said, "So?"

The others watched with slack jaws as Claudia yanked on something and the painting started coming out of the bag. The redhead grunted slightly with the effort as she lifted the painting out of the bag bit by bit, until finally, the painting was leaning against the wall in the B&B.

Harry tossed the bag back to Claudia with a wide grin, saying, "You know, most people struggle with using bags like that. It won't actually work if you don't believe it will."

Claudia huffed as she slung the bag back over her shoulder and said, "Yes, well, panic will cause a belief in just about anything."

Harry's grin widened before he asked, "So how long was it until you resorted to the manual?"

The redhead scowled and muttered, "Not long and too long."

"Excuse me," Pete interrupted. "Are we going to address the fact that a huge painting just got pulled out of a much smaller bag?"

Harry shrugged and replied quickly, "I've done my part, so that's up to her," waving his hand in Claudia's direction. "I've still got a ton of paperwork to do back at the office." He turned and smiled at Claudia and added, "Have fun!"

Then he disappeared with a pop.

Everyone turned to look at Claudia for an explanation, who just sighed heavily and muttered quietly, "I'm going to get him for this."


End file.
